REPORT TITLE:
Community Services


DESCRIPTION:
Transfers from Office of Community Services to Department of
Human Services funding for programs for immigrants, refugees, and
welfare-to-work.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2154
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO COMMUNITY SERVICES.


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 346-14, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "§346-14  Duties generally.  Except as otherwise provided by
 
 4 law, the department of human services shall:
 
 5      (1)  Establish and administer programs and standards, and
 
 6           adopt rules as deemed necessary for all public
 
 7           assistance programs;
 
 8      (2)  Establish, extend, and strengthen services for the
 
 9           protection and care of abused or neglected children and
 
10           children in danger of becoming delinquent to make
 
11           paramount the safety and health of children who have
 
12           been harmed or are in life circumstances that threaten
 
13           harm;
 
14      (3)  Establish and administer programs, and adopt rules as
 
15           deemed necessary, for the prevention of domestic and
 
16           sexual violence and the protection and treatment of
 
17           victims of domestic and sexual violence;
 
18      (4)  Assist in preventing family breakdown;
 
19      (5)  Place, or cooperate in placing, abused or neglected
 
20           children in suitable private homes or institutions and
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
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 1           place, or cooperate in placing, children in suitable
 
 2           adoptive homes;
 
 3      (6)  Have authority to establish, maintain, and operate
 
 4           receiving homes for the temporary care and custody of
 
 5           abused or neglected children until suitable plans are
 
 6           made for their care; and accept from the police and
 
 7           other agencies, for temporary care and custody, any
 
 8           abused or neglected child until satisfactory plans are
 
 9           made for the child;
 
10      (7)  Administer the medical assistance programs for eligible
 
11           public welfare and other medically needy individuals by
 
12           establishing standards, eligibility, and health care
 
13           participation rules, payment methodologies,
 
14           reimbursement allowances, systems to monitor recipient
 
15           and provider compliance, and assuring compliance with
 
16           federal requirements to maximize federal financial
 
17           participation;
 
18      (8)  Cooperate with the federal government in carrying out
 
19           the purposes of the Social Security Act and in other
 
20           matters of mutual concern pertaining to public welfare,
 
21           public assistance, and child welfare services,
 
22           including the making of reports, the adoption of
 
23           methods of administration, and the making of rules as
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
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 1           are found by the federal government, or any properly
 
 2           constituted authority thereunder, to be necessary or
 
 3           desirable for the efficient operation of the plans for
 
 4           public welfare, assistance, and child welfare services
 
 5           or as may be necessary or desirable for the receipt of
 
 6           financial assistance from the federal government;
 
 7      (9)  Carry on research and compile statistics relative to
 
 8           public and private welfare activities throughout the
 
 9           State, including those dealing with dependence,
 
10           defectiveness, delinquency, and related problems;
 
11     (10)  Develop plans in cooperation with other public and
 
12           private agencies for the prevention and treatment of
 
13           conditions giving rise to public welfare problems;
 
14     (11)  Adopt rules governing the procedure in hearings,
 
15           investigations, recording, registration, determination
 
16           of allowances, and accounting and conduct other
 
17           activities as may be necessary or proper to carry out
 
18           this chapter;
 
19     (12)  Supervise or administer any other activities authorized
 
20           or required by this chapter, including the development
 
21           of the staff of the department through in-service
 
22           training and educational leave to attend schools and
 
23           other appropriate measures, and any other activities
 

 
Page 4                                                     2154
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
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 1           placed under the jurisdiction of the department by any
 
 2           other law;
 
 3     (13)  Make, prescribe, and enforce policies and rules
 
 4           governing the activities provided for in section 346-31
 
 5           it deems advisable, including the allocation of moneys
 
 6           available for assistance to persons assigned to work
 
 7           projects among the several counties or to particular
 
 8           projects where the apportionment has not been made
 
 9           pursuant to other provisions of law, if any, governing
 
10           expenditures of the funds;
 
11     (14)  Determine the appropriate level for the Hawaii security
 
12           net, by developing a tracking and monitoring system to
 
13           determine what segments of the population are not able
 
14           to afford the basic necessities of life, and advise the
 
15           legislature annually regarding the resources required
 
16           to maintain the security net at the appropriate level;
 
17     (15)  Subject to the appropriation of state funds and
 
18           availability of federal matching assistance, expand
 
19           optional health care to low-income persons as follows:
 
20           (A)  Pregnant women and infants under one year of age
 
21                living in families with incomes up to one hundred
 
22                eighty-five per cent of the federal poverty level
 
23                and without any asset restrictions;
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
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 1           (B)  Children under six years of age living in families
 
 2                with incomes up to one hundred thirty-three per
 
 3                cent of the federal poverty level and without any
 
 4                asset restrictions;
 
 5           (C)  Older children to the extent permitted under
 
 6                optional federal medicaid rules;
 
 7           (D)  Elder persons;
 
 8           (E)  Aliens;
 
 9           (F)  The homeless; and
 
10           (G)  Other handicapped and medically needy persons;
 
11                [and]
 
12     (16)  Subject to the appropriation of state funds and
 
13           availability of federal matching assistance, establish
 
14           the income eligibility level for the medically needy
 
15           program at one hundred thirty-three per cent of the
 
16           assistance allowance[.]; and
 
17     (17)  Administer services to assist refugees and immigrants
 
18           and to train welfare recipients to secure work,
 
19           including appropriations, applying for and disbursing
 
20           grants, and contracting for purchase of services, for
 
21           providers of these services who choose to transfer
 
22           their program from the office of community services to
 
23           the department."
 

 
Page 6                                                     2154
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
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 1      SECTION 2.  All rights, powers, functions, and duties of the
 
 2 department of labor and industrial relations, office of community
 
 3 services, regarding services for refugees and immigrants and work
 
 4 training for welfare recipients are transferred to the department
 
 5 of human services subject to agreement between the office of
 
 6 community services and the department of human services to
 
 7 determine the exact nature of the transfers.  In making this
 
 8 agreement, the two agencies shall discuss the transfers with
 
 9 interested providers.
 
10      All officers and employees whose functions are transferred
 
11 by this Act shall be transferred with their functions and shall
 
12 continue to perform their regular duties upon their transfer,
 
13 subject to the state personnel laws and this Act.
 
14      No officer or employee of the State having tenure shall
 
15 suffer any loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit,
 
16 vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefit or privilege as a
 
17 consequence of this Act, and such officer or employee may be
 
18 transferred or appointed to a civil service position without the
 
19 necessity of examination; provided that the officer or employee
 
20 possesses the minimum qualifications for the position to which
 
21 transferred or appointed; and provided that subsequent changes in
 
22 status may be made pursuant to applicable civil service and
 
23 compensation laws.
 

 
Page 7                                                     2154
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
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 1      An officer or employee of the State who does not have tenure
 
 2 and who may be transferred or appointed to a civil service
 
 3 position as a consequence of this Act shall become a civil
 
 4 service employee without the loss of salary, seniority, prior
 
 5 service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefits
 
 6 or privileges and without the necessity of examination; provided
 
 7 that such officer or employee possesses the minimum
 
 8 qualifications for the position to which transferred or
 
 9 appointed.
 
10      If an office or position held by an officer or employee
 
11 having tenure is abolished, the officer or employee shall not
 
12 thereby be separated from public employment, but shall remain in
 
13 the employment of the State with the same pay and classification
 
14 and shall be transferred to some other office or position for
 
15 which the officer or employee is eligible under the personnel
 
16 laws of the State as determined by the head of the department or
 
17 the governor.
 
18      SECTION 3.  All appropriations, records, equipment,
 
19 machines, files, supplies, contracts, books, papers, documents,
 
20 maps, and other personal property heretofore made, used,
 
21 acquired, or held by the department of labor and industrial
 
22 relations, office of community services, shall be transferred
 
23 with the functions to which they relate.
 

 
Page 8                                                     2154
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 4.  All rules, policies, procedures, guidelines, and
 
 2 other material adopted or developed by the agency transferred
 
 3 under this Act to implement provisions of the Hawaii Revised
 
 4 Statutes that are transferred to the department of human services
 
 5 by this Act, shall remain in full force and effect until amended
 
 6 or repealed by the department of human services pursuant to
 
 7 chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
 
 8      All deeds, leases, contracts, loans, agreements, permits, or
 
 9 other documents executed or entered into by or on behalf of the
 
10 agency transferred under this Act pursuant to the provisions of
 
11 the Hawaii Revised Statutes, which are transferred to the
 
12 department of human services by this Act, shall remain in full
 
13 force and effect.
 
14      SECTION 5.  If any part of this Act is found to be in
 
15 conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed
 
16 condition for the allocation of federal funds to the State, the
 
17 conflicting part of this Act is inoperative solely to the extent
 
18 of the conflict and with respect to the agencies directly
 
19 affected.  The rules under this Act shall meet federal
 
20 requirements that are a necessary condition to the receipt of
 
21 federal funds by the State.
 
22      SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
23 New statutory material is underscored.
 
24      SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.